2018 BFD(Big Fish Disaster)

[Shane]

Power outage from 0700 2 March until 0500 5 March. Ambient home temperature low was 44F (6.6C).

Returned Sunday afternoon to learn power had been out since Friday. Some dead fish observed.

Jools and I made the call to leave everything alone. The corpses would not decay quickly at such a low temp and removing the dead fishes would only introduce additional stress to fishes at their breaking point.

Monday morning power came back on. Removed corpses and performed 15% water changes on each tank with "normal" temperature water 76-78F to slightly warm each tank.

Tuesday, same routine as above. Removed 5 more dead fishes and performed 15% water changes. All tanks were back to their normal temperature.

Losses
- Lost all but three adult Steatocranus, but most fry (under 1") survived.
- All Pelvicachromis died
- Hemiloricaria 50% dead
- Chaetostoma all survived
-Congo tetras, one of four died
- Synodontis, 100% survived
- Hyalobagrus, 50% survived
-Danio kyathit, school of 40 100% survived
-Paradise fish 100% survived (Jools believes they are like cockroaches and will always live)

All in all not as bad as it could have been. I think there were three main reasons: tanks were healthy with 50-60% weekly water changes and all tanks were lightly stocked. This was a big factor as higher stocked tanks had many more casualties. Lastly, leaving the fish alone until power was back on and we could actually do something to help.

-Shane

[Jools]

Meanwhile, the inclement weather delayed our 45 minute flight from DC to Newark by nearly 3 hours. So, no fly, BUT we got to stay another great night in the US. Today sees us being up and early and already in Newark.

Flight home looks OK. The UK, like Shane's tanks, appears to be warming up.

Jools

[2wheelsx2]

Ouch....sorry to hear Shane. These big losses are always so heart wrenching.

[bekateen]

Agree with 2wheelsx2 - really tough to take. But Shane you express strong positive message.

Cheers, Eric

[Shane]

Wednesday, no additional losses. Same routine as above. Feeding about 50% of normal as many fishes are not yet showing normal appetite. No ick in any tank.

Hoping this data will help others with extended winter power outages in the future.

-Shane

[syno321]

Sorry to hear Shane! Were the steatocranus you lost tinanti?

[Shane]

Yes, all tinanti.
-Shane

[Tony4143]

Sorry Shane, I hate when I lose fish
-Tony

[N0body Of The Goat]

So sorry to read of your losses, Shane.

Amazing how all the Chaetostoma survived, plus if your Steatocranus are anything like my S. casuarius, you have a chance to rebuild the group. And once again, Synodontis show how resilient they can be. I've never kept them, but I'm not surprised by your 100% Paradise Fish survival, over here many keep them in mainstream "tropical" temps, when they would be perfectly happy in unheated tanks.